Environment Minister calls on municipalities to take advantage of funds for the coast
The Minister of Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, called on municipalities to take advantage of the two thirds of funds still available for interventions on the coast, under the “Sustainable 2030” Operational Program.
Speaking at Faro beach, where she attended a lunch after attending a meeting of the drought monitoring committee in the region, in the Algarve capital, Maria da Graça Carvalho highlighted that there are 167 million euros available to intervene on the coast in projects under this program, which only has approved interventions worth 50 million euros.
The minister highlighted that interventions are planned to replace sand on Vau beach, in Portimão.
“We will have the contract ready this month for the largest of all here in the Algarve, which is in Garrão and Vale do Lobo. And in Fuzeta, the international tender was published yesterday [Thursday] in the Official Gazette”, he added, highlighting that in Fuzeta, in Olhão, an “emergency work” has already been carried out.
According to Maria da Graça Carvalho, in March “there was a complete dragging of the sand” which left Fuzeta “without a beach” and it was necessary to carry out “emergency work” to guarantee its opening at the beginning of the bathing season. “But now we are going to carry out a more complete, larger-scale work, so that there will be a 30-metre wide stretch of sand on Fuzeta beach”, said the minister, who visited the island during the afternoon.
“We have already managed to have projects worth 50 million and now we need to move forward with the projects so that the money is not lost and that we can use this to recover the entire coastline,” he said, clarifying that the projects could include replacing sand, interventions on cliffs or improving water quality.
Although there is still “some time”, it is “important to draw attention now, because the project has to be prepared, submitted, approved and then the work carried out” by the municipalities, with the support of the Portuguese Environment Agency ( APA ).
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Jornal do Algarve
